Alice's Journey through the Little Door
by Arriva
Summary: An unexpected visitor finds the Other World and ends up playing a little game with the Other Mother.
1. Part I

**A/N: So a quick note, this was actually an assignment for my Creative Writing class. We had to write fanfiction, so I crossed over the worlds of Alice in Wonderland and Coraline. The world of Coraline borrows both elements from the book and movie, such as the descriptions, and it takes place long before the events of Coraline during the time period of Alice in Wonderland. It's a very short story, only enough for two chapters, but nonetheless, I hope it is enjoyable!**

* * *

Alice was beginning to grow bored of her vacation.

It had seemed like a splendid idea when she'd come with her sister, but the, "fresh air," and, "peaceful countryside," her sister had described were nowhere near as exciting as Alice hoped they would be. All Alice could do was wander around the empty house the two sisters were staying in.

The Pink Palace it was called. It was indeed very pink, but not so much a palace. In fact, it was just a house. Alice found it rather dreary, hardly anything exciting about it. Still, it was more exciting than watching her sister read one of her boring old encyclopedias in the garden. Even if they had pictures, they were absolutely horrible pictures! Alice decided she'd much rather explore and left her sister to her book.

And so as Alice weaved in and out of the Pink Palace that-really-wasn't-a-palace, she found a strange little key tucked away in a cupboard in the kitchen area. If it had been an ordinary key, she might have passed it over. But this key was different. It was a shiny black, and the strangest part of the key was the button at its top.

In her very short lifetime, Alice had found several keys, but never one with a button head. How odd. Buttons belonged on dresses and dolls and shoes, not keys! She turned the button key in her hand, wondering what door it unlocked. The only sensible way to find out was to try every door in the Pink Palace, and so that is what Alice did. As she started from the attic and made her way down, cramming the button key into every lock possible, she began to grow worried.

"What if I never find this mysterious door?" she wondered aloud. "This could be one of those keys without a lock! But why would someone make it then? It seems a pointless thing to do, but I've met people who like to do pointless things. Either way, this entire search will have been for nothing- oh, what's this?"

Alice crouched down below the dining room table and peered into the adjacent parlor. "Is that a little door in the parlor?" It couldn't have been any taller than an armchair, but perhaps Alice's eyes were playing tricks on her. What was it her sister called that feeling of looking at something and thinking it smaller than it really is? Perspective! She sprung up from under the table and eagerly approached the door.

"Why it _is _a little door!" Alice exclaimed as she bent down to examine the keyhole. "Not the smallest door I've ever seen though. I won't have to drink anything to fit through this one! If I _can _open this one at all…"

Little Alice slid the button key into the lock, discovering to her delight that it was a perfect fit. 'What sort of thing would be kept behind a little door?' Alice thought. 'Maybe a family of little people lives inside it! Oh, I'm certain that isn't why. But what other reason could it be?'

She turned the key and the little door opened to reveal a tunnel.

Not a room, not an exit, but a tunnel of the most un-room-like kind. The walls were round, like a cocoon, and they were a dusty, worn shade of brown. Alice peered through the tunnel, all the while trying to figure out why such a long tunnel was necessary. 'Surely it leads somewhere!' thought Alice.

Grabbing the peculiar button key, she began crawling through the tunnel. Deeper and deeper she went, darker and darker the tunnels were. As her hands brushed the sides, she realized the tunnel was made of nothing more than coarse fabric. Dusty fabric at that. Alice found herself brushing away at cobwebs and bug carcasses, even a few old, broken toys.

"To think I may be the first person to go through this tunnel in years!" said Alice. "I see why. Whoever built this tunnel must not have realized what a foolish endeavor it'd turn out to be. A corridor would have been much more sensible."

Finally, she reached the end. A door the same in size and color greeted her. "Why, this is the same door as before… have I gone in circles? Maybe I turned around at some point and didn't realize it." Alice pushed against the new (or was it old?) door, and it opened to… the very same parlor she had just left.

Stepping into the parlor though, Alice felt _something _different about it. But what? An unexplainable sensation creeped from her toes to her head that this parlor was not like the other parlor. Was it the floorboards? The wallpaper? The furniture? Pondering, pondering, pondering, this would do nothing to help her figure things out!

Alice stood up, thinking of where to tuck the button key. If only she'd thought to bring something to store it in! She'd have to do with carrying it around. Now where was she…

"Is anyone here?" Alice called out. "I do hope someone is here otherwise I'll just be talking to myself again and my sister will probably scold me for it later. Goodness, I don't know what I'll do with myself is nobody is here. I suppose I can go back down the tunnel, if this is a completely different place that happens to look exactly the same-"

"Who are you?" a raspy voice said behind her.

"Oh!" Alice dropped the key in surprise. Someone _was _here! Thank goodness! However, when Alice turned around, her relief quickly vanished.

In the doorway stood… a spider. Or was it a woman? A spiderlike woman? Alice did not know, and she was too afraid to ask. The creature had long, spindly limbs like a spider's but the body of a woman around Alice's mother's age. Its hair was long and shiny, and it had a sharp red fingernails. The most striking feature were its eyes. They weren't even eyes; they were buttons as black as the key Alice had dropped. And they were looking right at Alice, waiting for an answer.

"My- my name is Alice," she said.

The creature smiled, and Alice saw its sharp white teeth. "Alice. What a pretty name. Tell me, Alice, what brings you to my home?"

"I…" Alice suddenly found herself at a loss for words. How rude of her to treat this creature in such a way! To fear it only on its appearance was a cruel and narrow-minded thing of her to do! What would her sister say about her behavior? Alice cleared her throat. "I was exploring when I came upon that tunnel- is it your tunnel? Did you build it? How long has it been here?"

"My, my, don't you have many questions. Won't your mother be missing you?" The spider woman uttered the word, "mother," as if it were a foul, loathsome creature.

"Oh, my mother isn't with me," Alice said. "I am certain my sister will miss me though. She's out in the garden reading her books!"

"Is she now? Well, I wouldn't want to keep you from her," the arachnidan woman said with an air of mock wistfulness. "I suppose after all these long years I've simply grown lonely, wanting any kind of _company_."

Alice frowned. "What would a spider want with company though?"

"_What did you call me_?" it hissed. Alice flinched, and the creature softened its tone. "Of course, I haven't properly introduced myself, have I? I am the Other Mother."

"An other mother? But how can there be such a thing as an Other Mother?" said Alice in the most inoffensive way possible. "If there were, children would get terribly confused about who their real mothers were. No one would know who was who, and the more I think about, that would be an awful thing to happen! You must have yourself confused with something else!"

"Have I? And are you the expert on Other Mothers?"

"No, but you don't look very much like a _regular _mother and I… I…" Alice could have sworn she saw the Other Mother's button eyes flash in anger. She knew then she had made a horrible mistake, going through the tunnel, talking to the Other Mother so tactlessly, all of it one giant mistake. Of course the Other Mother wouldn't be happy with her company!

But the Other Mother merely smiled that sharp-toothed smile again and said, "You are a very rude child, Alice. Did _your _mother ever teach you any proper manners?"

"Y-yes she did!" Alice stammered. "I know you must not think so right now, but she really did! Oh dear, I apologize for being so dreadfully rude. I should go back to where I came from now. I'll never bother you again, I promise!"

Alice hastily went back to the little door, only to realize she had left the button key on the floor. She bent down to retrieve it when the skeletal white hand that was the Other Mother's snatched it off the floor. "Please give me that key back!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Alice," the Other Mother replied, locking the little door and pocketing the key. "How could I consciously allow you out of here without teaching you some manners? I would be a bad mother if I allowed such a thing."

"Oh please let me go! I must get back!" Alice begged. "I didn't mean to be so impolite! Please let me go back through the door, I'll do anything!"

"Anything, you say?"

Alice nodded. The Other Mother drummed those long, red fingernails of hers against the wall, creating a most cacophonic scratching sound. "Well, I suppose I may let you go back… that is, if you play a game with me."

"A game?" Alice blinked. "What kind of game?" She sorely hoped it was not chess. Alice had experienced far more chess than she would have liked and really had lost her taste for the game.

"A finding things game," said the Other Mother. She pulled out the key and dangled it before Alice's face. "If you, Alice, can find this key before I can, I swear on my right hand I will let you go."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you must stay here with me," she said. "_Forever_."

'I don't think that's a fair proposition at all!' thought Alice. 'She knows this place so much better than I do, and it will take me so very long to look in every place! But other choice do I have? My sister will surely be missing me if I do not return.' Then suddenly, Alice thought of an idea!

"Very well," Alice answered, "But you must give me a hint first."

"If you insist." If the Other Mother had eyes, Alice was certain they'd have narrowed, because she clearly was not happy with this arrangement. Nonetheless, she obliged. "Look high, look low, and you will not find the key, but to look to the fringes of this world and it may lie within the boundaries."

What a strange rhyme! Then again, Alice was no stranger to strange rhymes. "All right then, I will go look for this key-"

"Not so fast," the Other Mother said slyly. "Close your eyes and count to thirty-seven."

'Thirty-seven? Why thirty-seven?' Alice closed her eyes and began counting. 'This is like a ridiculous game of hide-and-seek! I cannot believe I'm thinking this, but I'd have preferred chess over this nonsense!'

When she opened her eyes, the Other Mother was gone.

"Well," Alice said to no one in particular, "I suppose I'll begin this strange game. Although I quite honestly have no idea what I'm doing. I do know the best place to start is the house and I'll work my way outward so that is what I will do!"

As she walked out of the (other?) parlor, a figure emerged from the shadows, softly following behind her.


	2. Part II

Little Alice's plan was not going as smoothly as she envisioned.

She looked high, she looked low, she looked inward, outward, up, down, all around, and found no key. She was beginning to suspect there was no key, and this was all one long, elaborate dream. It wouldn't be the first she'd had.

What Alice noticed about _this _Pink Palace was… it wasn't pink. Nothing was. The house looked like the other one, but when she went outside, surrounding her was nothing but white mist. No gardens, no trees, nothing but a mass of white nothingness. The house itself looked like nothing more than a rough sketch an artist might draw, outlined by only black lines. All of it nothingness.

"I would think there would be _something _here," Alice said with disbelief. "Otherwise, there is no reason for this place to exist! What good does a place of nothing do anyone? And why does the Other Mother stay here? What does it matter if I cannot find the key?"

Alice ran down the steps of the house and into the white mist, fervently searching for the key. It was such a small thing; how on earth would she find it before the Other Mother!? The thought of having to stay in this empty, white world brought tears to Alice's eyes.

She fell to the ground and started to cry. "I don't think I shall ever be able to find that little key again! I'll be trapped here forever! Oh, I think I'd rather drown in my own tears than spend one more minute in this place!"

As Alice cried, a figure emerged from the mist behind her. "And just what are you trying to accomplish?"

Alice jumped at the sound of another person's voice. She looked behind her and saw… a cat? He was a skinny black cat, with wide green eyes and a flicking tail. He was staring right at her, as though the two were holding a conversation. Then he opened his mouth. "Well? Are you done crying?"

"A talking cat?" To think Alice had encountered not one but _two _talking cats in her life now! "Are you the Other Mother's cat?"

The cat licked its paws. "I'm not the other anything. I'm the cat, and that is all I am."

"Then where did you come from?"

"There is not one specific place that I come from. I am cat, I may come and go where I please without the restrictions placed on humans such as yourself," the cat explained. "That is the nature of my kind. We cats may appear and disappear at will, unlike you humans."

"Well, you aren't the first, but I do hope you don't start disappearing!" Alice said. "I very much like cats, but they always seem to be doing strange things around me."

"That is the nature of cats," the cat said a little proudly.

"I have a cat named Dinah back at home, I think you would adore her!" said Alice. "Although she doesn't talk like you do… Oh, do you know who you really would have gotten along with? Cheshire-Puss! I can see the two of you chatting in a tree, having intellectual conversations, all sorts of cat things! But he isn't a real cat… oh well, I'm sure you get along with regular cats just fine!"

"Perhaps. Care to walk with me, Alice?" Alice got up and the two began walking through the mist of the empty world.

"It truly is empty," Alice said. "How am I to find the key in such an empty world?"

"Ah, so she has already started a game with you. Tell me, if you lose this game, will she force you to stay here forever?"

"Indeed she will. What I don't understand is _why_ the Other Mother wishes for me to stay here forever," Alice said. "Forever is a very long time, and I don't think I will be alive forever. So why? Is she lonely?"

"It is more than that," the cat answered, "Tell me, Alice, what does a mother need to be a mother?"

Alice thought about this for a moment. "Well… she needs a child. Otherwise she would be just a woman- is that why the Other Mother wants me to stay? Am I to be her child?"

"She is a creature that longs for love," the cat explained. "The love of a child. But it will only satisfy her so long. She soon grows bored with the other ones and casts them aside, waiting for the next child to venture through the little door."

"Me," Alice said quietly.

"In your case though, She was surprised at your appearance," the cat said, "She wasn't expecting someone to so easily find her way into the Other World. Usually She'll have colorful places and food and games to entertain you, but your sudden arrival gave Her no time for such things. What you see before you is the blank slate of Her world."

Alice looked around at the empty white world. "Do you mean this entire place was filled with colorful things at a time?"

"Of course, how else would she lure children into it?"

"You mean she…" Alice gasped. "I'm not the first to find this world, am I? Oh dear, and I may not be able to leave it if I cannot find this key!"

"You do realize that winning Her little game doesn't necessarily mean She'll let you go, don't you? She is after all a creature who does not like to let go of Her things."

"Even if it doesn't, I still need the key to get back," Alice said. "I'm not like you, cat. I cannot disappear at will."

"Indeed you are not." The pair walked around for a bit, each trying to think of some way to get little Alice out of the predicament she'd crawled into. "You'll need a distraction, something to keep Her occupied until you've safely made your way back."

"Right. But how am I supposed to find the key?"

The cat looked back toward the house. "Did She give you any hints? She may not play fair, but she loves giving hints."

"She told me to look around the fringes… the fringes… of course! It's somewhere around here!" Alice got to her knees and began feeling at the ground. Her fingers slid under a fold on the blank surface. "Here! I think I may have found something, cat! Cat?" She looked up to see the cat had disappeared. Cats always seemed to do that around her…

Alice pushed her other hand beneath the fold and rolled the little patch of ground up to reveal a dark hole with a small, rusted ladder. Alice wished she had thought to bring with her a flashlight or a candle. Still, she slowly began down the ladder.

"This is just like that dream I had," Alice mused. "Only I was falling down a hole, not climbing! I do think I would break every bone in my body if I tried falling down this hole. They would probably never find me either. My, this hole is so very long; I wonder if I will ever reach the bottom!"

But Alice did reach the bottom, and her shoes squelched onto the muddy ground. The bottom of the hole was much wider than the top, much like a little grotto. Alice squinted to see the key, but seeing anything in such a dimly lit place was a challenge. She did see something else in the hole with her though: a blob that may or may not have had arms and legs. Alice could not tell. She did see a head though, so she could at least try and make conversation with the blob.

Alice cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"

The blob's head looked up, and Alice saw its two button eyes, exactly like the Other Mother's, and its lopsided mouth opened. "Alice."

"How do you know my name?" Alice asked politely.

"Mother is expecting me to expect you," the blob said, bits of clay oozing out of its mouth. "Said you were looking for this."

It held its arm out (Was it an arm? Alice still could not tell) showing the black button key. Alice reached for the key only for the blob to jerk its arm back out of her reach. "Won't you please give me that key?"

"It would displease Mother. She will be… displeased with me."

Alice sat down in frustration. "What am I to do then? If you will not give me the key, I will surely be stuck here forever." But Alice would not give up so easily. As she sat in the dark little hole, she thought so very hard about how to get the key from the blob. And then the cat's helpful words came back to her.

"_You'll need a distraction."_

"A distraction…" Alice whispered to herself. Suddenly, she knew exactly what to do! Perhaps. Really she had no idea what she was doing. Alice stood back up and faced the blob. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Jabberwocky?"

The blog cocked its head, more of its wet clay dripping off onto the floor in small puddles. "Jabberwocky? No."

"How could you have not heard of the Jabberwocky? It is the most amazing and stupendous tale ever told! I must tell it to you; I would be cruel not to." Whether the blob wanted to hear the story or not, Alice began. "`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves…"

And so Alice recited the Jabberwocky poem from heart to her best ability, and the blob listened. At first, it did not pay much mind to the poem, but very slowly it began to nod off, its lumpish head slumping over to its side. Finally, when Alice got to, "Tuntum gree," the blob tilted its head over, and the key rolled out of its hand onto the floor. Alice quickly snatched the key and started back up the ladder, nearing the end of the Jabberwocky poem.

"Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O… what day?" It was always the last part Alice forgot. What an unfortunate time to forget it though! "O… frivolous day? What day was it? Sunday? O Sunday? Oh no, that isn't right at all… is it…"

The blob's head snapped back up. At an alarmingly quick speed, it rushed across the floor and began scaling up the ladder. Alice may have been quick, but the blog was quicker. Just as Alice reached the top, the blob was a mere inches behind her. It reached out and grabbed her ankle. Holding back a scream, she slammed the patch on the blob's arm, and it howled in pain. But it did let go of her ankle.

Alice breathed heavily. "Frabjous day! _That's _what it was! Frabjous!"

She examined the button key with relief. Technically, she had one the game, but the cat's words had not left her. Alice knew the Other Mother would not let her leave so easily. She'd have to come up with another distraction. But what? The Other Mother didn't seem the type to get distracted by a silly little poem. She'd need something more confusing, something to truly make the Other Mother's head spin right off her head!

Alice did not know yet what that would be. But as she walked back up to the house, she kept her grip especially tight on the button key.

* * *

Going back into the more dimensional house was almost a relief, had Alice not known what awaited her inside it. At least it had more colors, and not everything felt so flat and empty. Alice's tiny footsteps echoed down the hall toward the parlor. The entire time she focused on the button key, as if it would disintegrate if she dared drop it.

Alice opened the doors to the parlor. The Other Mother stood in front of the little door, as if she'd been expecting Alice the whole time. "So you're back."

"Yes," Alice said, "I am. And I have the key. I've won the game so you must let me back now!"

For a moment, the Other Mother said nothing. She approached Alice and twirled a lock of her hair in her long, bony white fingers. "Alice, wouldn't you rather stay here than go back to that dreary world of yours?"

Alice shook her head. "I must go home. My sister will be wondering where I am."

"The sister who neglects you and reads her books all day? The parents who are never around to love you?" the Other Mother said knowingly. "I would never neglect you. I would play games with you and read silly little poems with you and each day would be a completely new adventure. All it takes is staying here, Alice. Just stay here and you will never feel bored or lonely again. I swear on it."

"I don't believe you," Alice said firmly. "I won the game now let me through."

"Oh, but you didn't Alice. You _cheated_."

"What? I did no such thing!"

The Other Mother smiled smugly. "Is it not true that you coerced with vermin, and he told you where to look for the key?"

"Vermin? You mean… the cat." Alice's eyes widened in fear. "B-but… that… that wasn't cheating… you never specified it was!"

"I believe I specified that _you _had to find the key, not the vermin you call a cat, did I not?" Alice said nothing, but both knew the Other Mother was right. "Come now Alice, don't be a bad sport about it. You should be a good little girl and accept your loss."

What now? The Other Mother was right! Alice _had_ received help from the cat. This was exactly what the cat said she would do though! The Other Mother wouldn't accept Alice's victory so easily, but what could Alice do!? A distraction, distraction, distraction, something distracting to distract the Other Mother.

Like… a riddle.

Alice spoke up hesitantly. "I… I have a compromise."

"Oh? And what is that?"

"If you can answer this riddle, I'll stay here forever," Alice said. "But if you cannot, you _must _let me go."

"And why should I agree to this?" the Other Mother said.

"I played your game! It's only fair if you answer my riddle!" Alice said indignantly.

"Very well, I will indulge your little riddle, Alice, but only because I love you," she replied, the smile still plastered on her pale face. "Go on. Ask me your riddle then."

"All right." Alice took a deep breath. How did that riddle go again? Of course! "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

The Other Mother's smug smile vanished. "What?"

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Alice repeated.

"Why is a… well… let's see… a writing desk has pencils and paper… and a raven…" Very soon the Other Mother grew bamboozled by the odd riddle, rambling to herself and quickly losing her attention on Alice.

Alice quietly stepped backwards, inching toward the little door. When she saw that the Other Mother appeared thoroughly immersed in her riddle, Alice turned around and unlocked the little door in one swift motion. If the Other Mother heard the click, she did not show it. Alice slowly opened the door and slipped inside, closing the door tight. She crawled as silently and rapidly as a person could crawl, always aware the Other Mother could fling open the door any minute.

Suddenly, Alice heard a scream. The Other Mother.

"NO!"

A bang on the door shook the entire tunnel and Alice crawled faster. Another bang, closer and louder. Bang, bang, BANG! The banging pounded in Alice's ears. She heard the Other Mother screaming her name, yelling at her to come back. Now she was so close to the other side, just a few more feet… safe!

Alice tumbled out of the little door and back into the normal world. Not wasting any time, she slammed the little door shut, locked it back up, and threw the button key in the back of a kitchen drawer.

* * *

Alice's sister was reading a most informative book when she heard her little sister calling her name.

Alice came bounding out the door, nearly tripping over herself to get to her sister. Her hair was disheveled, and her dress rumpled as well. Her white stockings were covered in dirt stains, and mud caked her shoes. If the sister had to guess what Alice had been doing, she'd wager Alice had been exploring the outdoor area of the Pink Palace.

She sat beside her sister, breathless. Her sister knew that look in Alice's eyes: she had another story to tell. "Oh, I've had the most frightening experience you could imagine! I was exploring and I found this little door so I unlocked it and there was this tunnel I went through and it led me to another world that looked much like this one only-"

"Alice, you couldn't have possibly gone through a tunnel into another world! That's impossible!" the sister said, indulgent but rational to Alice's… imaginative stories. "Now why don't you go get yourself cleaned up? You look as though you've been tumbling through a rose bush!"

"But it's true!" Alice protested. "I really did go through the little door, and I encountered this horrible spider lady and she made me-"

"Silly Alice, that little door has been bricked up for years. No one could get through it! Not even you!"

"It is!? But it… I'll show you!" Alice tugged on her sister's arm and pulled her into the kitchen. She grabbed the button key and went back to the parlor. She unlocked the little door and pulled it back before her sister.

And behind the little door was… nothing but a brick wall.

"But I _saw _a…" Alice felt along the brick wall, "there _was _a little tunnel here, I'm not making things up!"

"You probably just had another dream, Alice. Perhaps you can tell me your dream over tea," her sister said fondly. "I'll be in the garden if you need me."

Alice's sister walked past a stunned Alice. "A dream… could it really have all been a dream?"

Resignedly, Alice locked the little door back up. It had felt so different, so real. But maybe it was all just another dream. Every strange thing that happened to Alice always seemed to equate to some kind of dream she'd had. Still though… she had to at least make sure. Alice pressed her ear to the little door. She heard the faintest sound of banging.

Dream or not, Alice never went through the little door again.


End file.
